Disney's World -- Even a Global Behemoth Must Prove Nimble in the New Global Marketplace

If there is one product category that U.S. companies have been able to export where the American character of the product is itself part of the winning value proposition, it's cultural works such as movies, television and music (as well as cultural clothing such as blue jeans and slogan-bearing T-shirts).  And if there were ever a market that was begging for cultural products that appeal to the "tween" set, it's India where the population under the age of 14 is larger than the entire population of the US.

With that going for it, if there is a company that should be able to act as a global company in the sense that Ted Levitt defined it (i.e. a global company "operates with resolute constancy . . . as if the entire world (or major regions of it) were a single entity"), it should be Disney promoting family friendly movie fare in India.  As illustrated by its co-venture with Bollywood film studio Yash Raj Films to be announced today (and as detailed in an article in today's Wall Street Journal), Disney's efforts in India are in fact the latest illustration of the reality of the global marketplace discussed in previous posts on this blog.  Even a global behemoth must customize its product and service offerings in order to meet the demands presented by foreign consumers, who like internet age consumers everywhere, want what they want, when they want it and how they want it.

In Disney's case, even the tame portrayal of budding boy-girl relationships and sometimes peevish middle school behavior is offensive to the Indian film distribution companies and their audience.  Likewise, story lines based around baseball and basketball don't capture the imagination in a country where cricket is the national pastime.   Bollywood has also produced quite a few Indian movie stars who have much more appeal to the Indian audience than some of the names from Disney's stable of talent in Hollywood. 

In a clear refutation of Levitt's analysis of global corporate power to dictate what consumers buy, according to the WSJ article, Disney has had to change from its "traditional approach [which] was largely to force-feed its US products from its Burbank, Calif. headquarters."  Instead, "the company ultimately concluded the cookie-cutter approach wouldn't work, and now is going country by country."  The new global reality "means discarding Disney's historic obsession with going it alone -- and instead joining forces with local experts to produce culturally customized fare."

It's a global marketplace, but each country presents a different market segment and a different voice of the customer.  To be successful, you must make sure that your value proposition -- the story that you tell your customers -- translates well across cultural differences.

Comments

[Greg]

Hi Craig,

Good post! I love it when bloggers are able to put stats in perspective (more under 14 than the population of the US)

I'm actually a student who is aspiring to go to law school, but still interested in business. Your career path sounds pretty interestin. If you have time, I'd like to know whether you intended to go into business when you first started law school.

Anyway, I thought you might like to know about a wiki we have launched as a resource for small businesses and entrepreneurs. There are some good small business sites out there, but the information is scattered all over the place. So we thought we’d start a wiki with what we’ve learned over the years and invite everyone else to join.

Here it is: http://www.zanawiki.com

If you’re wondering who I am, I work with ZANA. ZANA is a small business network that aims to do the same thing this wiki will: bring together all of the best business resources in one convenient place.

Thanks,

Greg Cooper on behalf of ZANA Network

[Craig Maginness]

Greg:

Thanks for the comment. I edited some of it since it was a bit too much of a commercial pitch. I did leave the link to your business resources wiki. I haven't had a chance to review it in detail, but upon my first run through I thought it was an interesting concept.

As for your question about law and business, one of the great things about a law practice, particularly if you have the good fortune of having a high end client base who value your counsel, is that you get the opportunity to become involved with and learn about a wide variety of businesses and business challenges. Of course law is itself a business, and success in both ultimately comes down to problem solving and communication.

Craig